Western Force Rugby Supporters Site - Western Forcehttp://twf.com.au/
The Force, The Whole Force, and nothing but the Force!enThu, 24 May 2018 19:15:08 GMTvBulletin60http://twf.com.au/images/misc/rss.pngWestern Force Rugby Supporters Site - Western Forcehttp://twf.com.au/
World Series set for Japanese flavour as Western Force announce Panasonic Wild Knighthttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39956&goto=newpost
Thu, 24 May 2018 09:24:30 GMTWhile RA wonders where their future lies we are steaming ahead.
Nick Taylor The West Australian
Thursday, 24 May 2018 11:32AM
A Japanese side is almost certain to join an expanded World Series Rugby next year.
Plans are under wraps but Force chief executive Nick Marvin gave a strong hint...

While RA wonders where their future lies we are steaming ahead.

Nick Taylor The West Australian
Thursday, 24 May 2018 11:32AM

A Japanese side is almost certain to join an expanded World Series Rugby next year.
Plans are under wraps but Force chief executive Nick Marvin gave a strong hint about the future when he confirmed the club will play powerful Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights in their final game of this year’s tournament.

]]>Western ForceBakkieshttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39955Question about bringing 4 adults to the WSR Rebels game on a family pass?http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39953&goto=newpost
Wed, 23 May 2018 11:10:22 GMT

Obviously have a family pass to the WSR rebels game, however given the kick off time my misses won't let me bring the kids, no biggie, not complaining, she is going to stay home with the kids and I am going to take my brother instead. However it leaves me with two spare tickets for someone under 16. So I have a couple of mates who wouldn't usually go to a Force game but I was going to pass them on to them for free obviously so they could attend and see the game with us, maybe it might convert them to watch future games. But I dont wanna turn up and be denied entry for these two adults attempting to get in as children and humiliate myself. And then even worse if its sold out we all stand around looking sheepish...

So long story short, will they deny entry to the rebels game for these two mates of mine?

Cheers

]]>Western ForceSPaRTANhttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39953Western Force V Rebels 9th June 8:00pmhttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39945&goto=newpost
Sat, 19 May 2018 09:59:23 GMTEmail from Ticketmaster
Just a heads up, that the Western Force v Rebels match at nib Stadium will start a bit later due to a fixture time change.
The start time has moved from a 7pm Kick Off to an 8pm Kick Off, on Saturday 9 June 2018. Your current tickets are still valid, you just need to...

Email from Ticketmaster

Just a heads up, that the Western Force v Rebels match at nib Stadium will start a bit later due to a fixture time change.

The start time has moved from a 7pm Kick Off to an 8pm Kick Off, on Saturday 9 June 2018. Your current tickets are still valid, you just need to take into account the new time.

For further updates, or if you have any queries regarding the time change, please contact Western Force. Details can be found here .

]]>Western ForceLeo86http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39945Alan Jones - New Zealand found the solution to their woes, why can’t we?http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39942&goto=newpost
Fri, 18 May 2018 04:57:13 GMTThe Australian
12:00AM May 18, 2018
What Newspolls are to Malcolm Turnbull, so is our record against New Zealand provinces in Super Rugby.
It is 32 defeats on the trot for Turnbull — and he’d still have you believe everything is OK.
It is 39 defeats in a row by Australian Super Rugby...

The Australian
12:00AM May 18, 2018

What Newspolls are to Malcolm Turnbull, so is our record against New Zealand provinces in Super Rugby.

It is 32 defeats on the trot for Turnbull — and he’d still have you believe everything is OK.

It is 39 defeats in a row by Australian Super Rugby franchises against New Zealanders and still not a murmur from anyone at the top of how this is going to change.

I think the hearts of every rugby follower go out to the NSW Waratahs. How you can lead 29-0 and lose, I’ve got no idea. The Crusaders, down 29 zip, scored five consecutive tries.

Queensland go down to Japan’s Sunwolves 63-28 and Quade Cooper is playing club rugby. And brilliantly, I am told.
Yet the board of Rugby Australia, who still remain silent, obviously don’t understand the gravity of the problem, and even worse, they can’t provide a single answer.

The crowds are so bad these days, they’re not even published.

The disappointment had only just subsided from the results at the weekend when I read in the The Courier Mail that Brisbane’s Associated Independent Colleges, which comprise eight private schools — Iona, St Laurence’s, Villanova, Marist Brothers Ashgrove, Padua, St Edmund’s, St Patrick’s and St Peter’s Lutheran College — will play rugby league next year.
Some of the greatest names in Australian rugby have come from places like Marist Brothers Ashgrove. And now, after two decades of offering rugby union and soccer as winter football codes, they’ll be offering rugby league.

Already, if you go to some of these schools in Brisbane and Sydney, private schools, they are fielding more soccer teams and AFL teams than they are fielding rugby teams. Something has to be done before this becomes the beginning of the end.

I wrote last week about some simple machinery that could be used to effect immediate and appropriate change. But those in charge of rugby in this country give every impression that self-interest prevails.

They seem to want to hang on to what they’ve got — the power, the positions and the privileges. They must be serving themselves, because they sure as hell aren’t serving rugby.

I thought today we’d look over the ditch to the finest team in the world, the All Blacks.

Let’s go back to 2007. They were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup in a quarter-final by France. They had failed, yet again, to win the cup for a second time.

The All Blacks had won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and nothing since in 20 years. Yet they were to host the next World Cup in 2011.

Their predicament may not have been as grave as ours is today, but in the estimate of those in New Zealand who love their rugby, it was as bad as it could get.

Unlike us today, the Kiwis faced their demons. Only months after that defeat in the quarter-finals, New Zealand Rugby gathered together everyone who mattered.

When they gathered, there was only one question that was asked — what must be the No 1 priority for New Zealand rugby?
And after many hours of debate and discussion, a simple answer emerged. It was for the All Blacks to be the absolute No 1 team in the world — not sometimes, but all the time. Once that lofty ambition was agreed upon, the hard part began.
How do you achieve that objective? The answer, not surprisingly, was relatively simple.

They agreed to completely reorder and restructure the management and control of New Zealand rugby’s most vital assets — the players and the coaches and other support personnel.

It’s called, simply, the balance sheet of rugby.

What the board of Rugby Australia don’t understand is that its real assets are not the 140-odd people who are employed at its head office doing God knows what; it’s not the fancy buildings that they build at places like Moore Park; and it’s certainly not the blazer brigade, who are presiding over this crisis, even though many of them give the impression that they think they are the game.

The real assets aren’t even dollars and cents. The real assets are the players and the coaches and their support staff.
And that is where the success or failure of the game rests, yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Administrators are just bit-players. They look good only if the national team is winning.

Some of the speakers at this New Zealand rugby summit in 2008 were successful Australian coaches — and not just rugby coaches.

Out of this summit emerged a new world order for New Zealand rugby. An order which was to position the national body, the New Zealand Rugby Union, into a pivotal position, which included responsibility for the appointment of not only the coaches of the national team, but also coaches of the Super Rugby teams.

As a result, each of the five Super Rugby teams in New Zealand has head coaches, assistants, doctors, physiotherapists and fitness trainers all hand-picked by the New Zealand Rugby Union in consultation with the franchise and after consideration of all available expertise.

When it comes to levels of fitness and skill and the fashioning the rugby intellect … all these things are inculcated into every intellectual crevice of rugby. In New Zealand, that means the system is centralised.

Of course it will fail if it’s got the wrong people in charge, which is where Australia is today. In New Zealand, it works.
It’s an old catchcry in sport, “Look at the scoreboard”. Look at the New Zealand scoreboard since 2008. Before 2008, the Crusaders and the Blues, Canterbury and Auckland, had won Super Rugby titles. Under the new system, the Chiefs, Waikato, found a new coach.

They won two titles. The Highlanders, Otago, were put under new management. They won. Wellington won. All three underperforming teams came good under New Zealand’s restructured system.

The All Blacks have won back-to-back Rugby World Cup tournaments, 2011 and 2015, and must be hot favourites to win in 2019. As many have said to me, these results are irrefutable evidence that our friends across the ditch have got it right. Or, to use the appropriate jargon, they manage their assets superbly.

People like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter were both in their mid-30s, but they starred in the All Black victory at the Rugby World Cup in 2015.

As one observer said to me, they wouldn’t have blown out a candle. Why?

Their workload had been managed by consultation between the coaching staff at the national and provincial level and by the involvement of the medical team. It’s not rocket science. It’s pretty simple stuff.

Of course, the key is getting the right people in the right positions. It is my understanding that such a proposal was put to the ARU board in mid-2012. There was plenty of debate and the proposal was eventually approved. It was ditched six weeks later. Why? “Political” reasons. By the end of 2012, the very proposal itself was in the bin.

Do a comparison of the inventory of our coaches at national and Super Rugby level with those in New Zealand. It’s no contest.

People who are winners in this country are not wanted — whether they are of now or yesterday. Outstanding former players who know about winning are not wanted.

Outstanding coaches who know about winning are not considered. They don’t fit the “network”.

We don’t have any conspicuous commitment or policy to identify merit, to cultivate merit and to reward merit, be it in playing or coaching. There’s an ad-*hocery at work and the scoreboard reflects it.

I’ve mentioned before the Giteau Law. It ought to be repealed immediately. Our players are well paid. We must reinstate the desire to wear green and gold as being the most powerful and dominant force to motivate our players.

Kerry Packer was a billionaire, but he used to say to me, “Nothing could replace being good enough to be chosen to wear green and gold.” And he told me he’d play for nothing. Now, of course, we know that he was speaking metaphorically. Players must be paid.

But what he was saying was that you can’t put a price on wearing green and gold and that should always apply to Australian rugby players.

Way back in 1996, two pioneers of the modern game, John O’Neill and Dick McGruther, introduced the policy that to be eligible to be selected for the Wallabies, you had to be playing Super Rugby in Australia.

New Zealand followed Australia on this, as New Zealand followed Australia on many things in the past that led to better coaching and better performance. Now Australia has been left behind.

And many in New Zealand Rugby feel embarrassed and concerned by where we are. New Zealanders won’t mind me saying it, but they are a tough and arrogant lot. Nothing wrong with that.

But it means the only way you win their respect is by beating them consistently on the playing field and, better still, on their playing fields. Victory has its own ability of subduing their brashness and cockiness.

Success on the scoreboard brings with it domination elsewhere. As a result, New Zealand dominate at SANZAAR. They dominate at the tables of the IRB.

We are left behind. We don’t rate. We’re no longer a major power. It’s time for Australian rugby, for God’s sake, to confront its demons.

Alan Jones is a former Wallabies coach and is host of the Alan Jones Breakfast Show on 2GB and the Macquarie radio network and is the host of Jones & Co on Sky News at 8pm on Tuesdays.

]]>Western ForceWF2404http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39942No Hodder in the game tomorrow.http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39940&goto=newpost
Thu, 17 May 2018 12:27:39 GMT

WAAAHHH!!!
WE are going to try to get to the women's game at Curtain (edinbrough oval) tomorrow. But I see Ms C Hodder is not named on the team?

There are plenty of women in the "Honey Bees" (our nick name after seeing the cool Super Rugby strip) who are entertaining footy players. But we both really enjoy seeing the dynamite pink head gear burn around the padock..

Is she injured?

]]>Western Forceantiussentimenthttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39940My thoughts on the Force vs Tonga game...http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39937&goto=newpost
Tue, 15 May 2018 12:44:23 GMTGot there quite late and missed alot of the pre game build up action but didnt mind really as I was there to see the Force in action. Enjoyed the Aboriginal war dance, thought it was fantastic.
Really enjoyed the game and the intensity of the Force. Felt the game started off really slowly though...

Got there quite late and missed alot of the pre game build up action but didnt mind really as I was there to see the Force in action. Enjoyed the Aboriginal war dance, thought it was fantastic.

Really enjoyed the game and the intensity of the Force. Felt the game started off really slowly though and was frustrated for the first 8 or so minutes with the stopages and the lack of urgency to form the scrum (hence the scrum clock didnt kick in, and on that note I think they should increase the scrum clock by 5 seconds but start it immediately after the ref blows his whistle, not once he calls for them to set. The scrums still felt slow at times.

The game itself was brilliant though, roaring pace by the Force and they smashed it up through the phases with one or two out passes to get the team moving forward before spreading the ball from side to side with ruthless pace. The rugby was incredible, a brilliant advertisement, Rugbys back!

Impressed by Tonga coming back in the first half to be within 4 points but they werent really in it. Too many mistakes and they couldnt seem to put together enough phases to be threatening. Too much reliance on individual brilliance or a counter attack.

I thought the Force played excellent in the second half and put the game out of reach with some really awesome attacking rugby. The handling was superb and they really seemed to have a feel for where their support players would be, some great offloads too, overall a great display of cohesion. Its fitting when your team plays highly entertaining Rugby when you watch the dribble being served up on the East Coast. Really impressed with the teams attacking attitude and just general basic skills. Its refreshing.

I went home and watched the game I recorded on my TV and was happy enough with the commentry. I though Chris Handy seemed to speak quite slow but I got used to him, thought they got the balance right in the second half when they introduced the 3rd commentator. Having Bray and Handy just isnt enough to be fulfilling. I also thought they should amplify the crowd noise and tone down the commentary a bit like what they do with some of the Soccer matches overseas, they should look into this because super rugby sounds dull on TV and has no appreciation for bringing the atmosphere into their broadcast, I dont want World Series Rugby to follow suit when it could definitely bring the crowd noise into the TV broadcast for people who dont have their TVs hooked up to high end amplifiers who can manually do this for the games they want.

Overall I am super impressed with it. Thought the kiss cam was done well. Music was good and entertaining during play. My two kids loved it and want to come back. I felt they knew how to keep their attention just enough to make then engage with the game.

Want to say a big thanks to Andrew Twiggy Forrest. Well done mate. Super impressive and look forward to more of it. Cant wait for next years edition. Will be back for every game this year. Can't wait.

]]>Western ForceSPaRTANhttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39937Western Force swoop on former under-20 Wallabies scrum-half Issak Fines-Leleiwasahttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39936&goto=newpost
Tue, 15 May 2018 11:40:59 GMTNick TaylorThe West Australian
Tuesday, 15 May 2018 7:06PM
Western Force have signed quicksilver former Australian under-20 scrum-half Issak Fines-Leleiwasa.
More here
...

Nick TaylorThe West Australian
Tuesday, 15 May 2018 7:06PM

Western Force have signed quicksilver former Australian under-20 scrum-half Issak Fines-Leleiwasa.

The average ball-in-play stat in Super Rugby is 33 minutes, which makes it highly ambitious of the Western Force’s World Series Rugby coach Tim Sampson to set his goal at 40 minutes.

It’s not likely he will achieve that tomorrow against Tonga in the second WSR match at nib Stadium but after getting up to 38 minutes last week in the win over Fiji, it looks achievable, particularly if the Force make better use of the provisional laws which allow them to throw into a lineout the moment their line is formed.

Even a 40-minute figure would mean the ball would be in play only one minute in every two, but in a game as exacting as professional rugby, that’s still a clattering pace.

The world record stands at 42 minutes, but not to the men. It was achieved in a women’s World Cup match. Asked whether his players are fit enough to sustain such a pace, Sampson admitted that they were not there yet.

“I’d be lying if I said we were there right now because of the staggered arrival of players in Perth. But by the end of WSR, I’d like to think they would be fit enough,” he said.

The Force arrivals continue, with prop Cameron Orr arriving this week from his commitments while star signing, All Black lock Jeremy Thrust, will not land in Perth for another three weeks, hopefully in time for the June 23 clash with the Crusaders.

Sampson has made two changes to the side that downed Fiji 24-14, with Perth local Clay Uyen taking over at fullback from Peter Grant, who took a heavy head knock last week, while Alifeliti Kaiut’u coming in to replace Heath Tessmann.

Tongan head coach, legendary former Wallabies No 8 Toutai Kefu, has not made it to Perth for this match but all indications are that the Tonga A side provide the basis of the visiting team.

“All Tongan teams prefer a confrontational style of play,” Sampson said. “They like to rumble up the middle of the park with their forwards and then run their backline plays off that.”

There was no way this game could hope to match the opening-night crowd of just under 20,000 last week, but ticket sales point to a crowd of 12,000, which is still likely to be the biggest rugby audience in the country this weekend.

]]>Western ForceHansiehttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39924What if the Force become the first Australian side to beat a kiwi team?http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39921&goto=newpost
Thu, 10 May 2018 10:31:25 GMT

What would be the consequences for Super Rugby and it's reputation if a team outside of super rugby and from a rival series (World Series Rugby) defeats the Crusaders and ends the aussie "hoodoo"? I would imagine it would be catastrophic for the dying competition, a competition where if you believe the media is basically on its knees!

But would it actually end the aussie hoodoo? Because lets be honest the "aussie hoodoo" is a super rugby thing, well atleast thats my impression of it. What it would do though is send another big F U to the RA!

This could end up being a complete utter embarassment for the national body (again) and one does wonder where their accountability is whilst holding these positions of power to ransom.

Lets hope it happens and we steam roll the Crusaders! GO THE FORCE!!

]]>Western ForceSPaRTANhttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39921Team for Tonga and a bit of Thrush signinghttp://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39918&goto=newpost
Thu, 10 May 2018 01:14:50 GMTFormer All Black Jeremy Thrush signs with Western Force
Nick Taylor The West Australian
Thursday, 10 May 2018 8:33AM
Western Force have signed former All Blacks second-rower Jeremy Thrush for World Series Rugby.
Thrush, who made a dozen appearances for New Zealand, has played 110 Super Rugby...

Former All Black Jeremy Thrush signs with Western Force
Nick Taylor The West Australian
Thursday, 10 May 2018 8:33AM

Western Force have signed former All Blacks second-rower Jeremy Thrush for World Series Rugby.
Thrush, who made a dozen appearances for New Zealand, has played 110 Super Rugby games and has just finished a three-year stint at English club Gloucester where he featured in more than 50 games.
News of Thrush’s signing comes as two Australian under-20 players prepare to make their starting debuts for the Force in Sunday’s WSR clash against Tonga at nib Stadium.
Local product Clay Uyen starts at full-back, replacing Peter Grant who was concussed in last Friday’s win over Fiji, while hooker Alifeleti Kaitu’u comes in for Heath Tessmann who has a hamstring problem.

She was awful, not in the sense that she doesnt speak well in Corporate lingo, she does, but she failed to adequately answer a number of important questions, she then tried to claim credit for helping setup WSR before trying to make out that the ARU didnt shun Andrew Forrest's 75million and it was simply a difference of oppinion. How out of touch can you be?

Raelene also tried to claim grassroots rugby is growing thanks to the RA and we simply don't see the good news stories in the media before then singling out womans rugby growth despite that being a constant in pretty much all sports right now. She didnt get into any specifics to do with grassroots junior or mens rugby, just womans rugby.

She said she wished Andrew Forrest would "Turbo charge" the NRC (deluded) and that competition suited the Force(egg on face)

She is totally out of touch, corporate speak on a rugby show is also a thing I cannot stand, I honestly thought I was in a work meeting and found myself rolling my eyes at the TV. It was meant to be an interview so answer the god damn questions ffs!

I could not believe how much she seems to tow the current RA line of having justly removed the Force despite the crowd last week utterly showing up every single one of their super franchises, and she seemed to sound very much to the tune of Clyne which made my ears prick, i can sense wolf in sheep clothing. She is completly not suited to Rugby, she didnt seem to have any concept of the real problems and issues. She believed super rugby was a smoke screen and that everything is actually ok and its all media hyper bole! And get this, last but not least she actually tried to justify the RA levy players pay to play rugby, she reckoned it was better off going to the RA to be REINVESTED in the exact same rugby they take the money from- OMG it was embarassing. I cannot believe how out of touch this administration is! They need to go!, the whole god damn lot of em!!!